John Cusack Joins The Cast Of Amazon’s ‘Utopia’ Remake

Amazon’s remake of Channel 4’s ‘Utopia‘ has added another cast member, as John Cusack takes the role of Dr. Kevin Christie in the upcoming series.

The 9-episode series comes from award-winning Gillian Flynn, the best-selling author and screenwriter of Golden Globe-nominated ‘Gone Girl’, HBO’s award-winning ‘Sharp Objects’, and is based on Channel 4 series of the same name. The story follows a group of young adults, who meet online but are mercilessly hunted by a shadowy deep state organisation after they come into possession of a near-mythical, cult, underground graphic novel. They discover the conspiracy theories in the comic’s pages may actually be real and are forced into the dangerous, unique and ironic position of saving the world.

Cusack is set to play Christie, a charismatic, media-savvy and brilliant biotech mind who wants to change the world through science. He joins the previously announced cast of Rainn Wilson (‘Star Trek: Discovery’, ‘The Office US’), who takes the role of Michael Stearns, a once a promising virologist, but now a forgotten scientist who’s lost his edge; Cory Michael Smith (‘Gotham’) is set to play the bright and ambitious Thomas Christie, son of Cusack’s Kevin; Dan Byrd (‘Cougar Town’), who plays Ian, a young man in a soul-robbing job who embarks on a mission to uncover the secrets of the graphic novel Utopia; And Sasha Lane (‘American Honey’) who takes the lead role of Jessica Hyde, the tough and feral girl who has spent her life on the run from shadowy organisations, but believes all the answers about her perplexing life story may be hidden in the ‘Utopia’ graphic novel.

Over the years, John Cusack has starred in a multitude of films, from the 80’s classic ‘Say Anything…’ to the utterly bonkers ‘Being John Malkovich’, and the amazing ‘High Fidelity’ and ‘Grosse Pointe Blank’. Despite his massive list of credits, this will actually mark the first time the actor has taken a regular role in a tv series.

The series is a co-production between Endemol Shine North America, Kudos, an Endemol Shine Group UK production studio, and Amazon Studios. Flynn is the creator, executive producer and showrunner of ‘Utopia’, and executive producers include Jessica Rhoades (who Flynn collaborated with on ‘Sharp Objects’), Sharon Hall, Karen Wilson, Dennis Kelly and Diederick Santer. Sharon Levy, President, Unscripted & Scripted Television, Endemol Shine North America, will oversee production for Endemol Shine.

Amazon has yet to announce a premiere date for ‘Utopia‘, but if it is only casting now, it is likely to be 2020 before it lands. We’ll let you know when we hear more.

Dave has over 20 years experience in the digital industry, and is founder and editor of Geektown. Obviously a huge geek himself, he can often be found in front of the latest tv show or movie, on various video games, or with his head in a comic book.